Monday, 5 August 2013

It feels like there is just one place to start today and that's not with what happened on the pitch during the Emirates Cup. It's with Brendan Rodger's claim that Arsenal haven't acted with class in their dealings with Liverpool over the transfer of Luis Suarez.

Now I have a lot of time for Liverpool as a club. They are an historic institution like Arsenal. In previous eras they have gone about things in the right way. They have a brand which is admired by football fans across the globe and have certainly been a club which has been quick to exploit this in the far east.

But in the Premier League era they've yet to pick up the prized trophy and the last time they won he league was when they picked up the old Division One trophy back in 1990, a year after our famous 2-1 win at Anfield where George Graham's side secured the title with goals from Alan Smith and Michael Thomas on the final day of the season.

And from securing second place in the league four seasons ago in 2008/9, they've missed out on Champions League qualification in consecutive seasons. Last season they even finished behind their Merseyside rivals Everton in Brendan Rodger's first season in charge.

This all appears to have taken its toll on Luis Suarez, who was promised the Anfield club would challenge for a top four finish each season. That's failed to happen and quite rightly he's unhappy at Liverpool's ambition. He can, for example, look at Arsenal, where we have under Arsene Wenger's stewardship secured Champions League qualification for a 16 successive season in a row. A feat which us Gooners take for granted, but shouldn't.

Should it be any surprise that when Real Madrid upped their price for Gonzalo Higuain after a fee had been agreed, Arsenal looked elsewhere and got encouragement from Luis Suarez's camp. Who wouldn't want to sign a proven goal scorer and someone who picked up the golden boot last season. He wants out at Anfield and although Arsenal's pursuit of the Urugyary striker doesn't sit well with some Gooners because of his "colourful" character, we're attempting to sign a football player not a new club chaplain.

Rodgers latest salvo in what appears to be a one-way war of words with Arsenal is surely his crassest. It's unbecoming of a Liverpool manager to suggest that Arsenal have acted with anything but the upmost respect for their Premier League rivals. Let's not forget for one moment that this is the man who let himself down last summer over his transfer dealings with his former club Swansea over the "Welsh Xavi" Joe Allen.

Had Liverpool not made Arsenal's bid for Suarez public through the Merseyside arm of the national media, no one would know about the Gunner's interest in last season's Premier League top scorer.

And then for their owner to tweet about us being on drugs for attempting to activate a clause in Suarez's contact with a bid of more than £40m is yet another example of Liverpool putting the deal out in public.

No one from Arsenal is talking about Suarez. Wenger admitted for the first time on Saturday that he'd made a bid for the player, weeks after we knew that was the case because of Liverpool's leaks to the media. Liverpool are talking about our interest in their player because they know he wants to leave and they want to create a bidding war for him. Arsenal would not be their preferred destination for their star striker.

But at the moment it's their only option. Real Madrid seem intent on spending a lot of money on Gareth Bale and that will leave them without the cash to buy Suarez as well. And it's clear that Arsenal aren't prepared to up their bid for the player at the moment. They believe, rightly or wrongly - like the player and his camp - that £40m + £1 is enough to secure the striker.

It seems that Suarez will attempt to force his way out of Anfield with either the use of legal action, a Premier League arbitration or if all else fails a transfer request. Things are going to get messy before anything gets resolved. But don't worry, we've got another 29 days to do our transfer business.

Sadly I've been left with little time to talk about the Emirates Cup... perhaps a subject for another day. Needless to say I'm not keen on us losing but realise it's only pre-season.

And finally, it's been revealed that "exciting" Colombian prospect Sebastian Perez is to train with Arsenal this week. Perez is a 20-year-old who play for Atletico Nacional and is described as being an "elegant, gifted central midfielder" by football expert Tor-Kristian Karlsen.